Skip Navigation


Tree Physiology Advance Access originally published online on May 29, 2009
Tree Physiology 2009 29(8):1047-1057; doi:10.1093/treephys/tpp038
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
29/8/1047    most recent
tpp038v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Alvarez, M.
Right arrow Articles by Valenzuela, E.
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Alvarez, M.
Right arrow Articles by Valenzuela, E.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Effect of ectomycorrhizal colonization and drought on reactive oxygen species metabolism of Nothofagus dombeyi roots

Maricel Alvarez1,2, Dries Huygens3, Carlos Fernandez1, Yessy Gacitúa1, Erick Olivares4, Isabel Saavedra5, Miren Alberdi6 and Eduardo Valenzuela5

1 Instituto de Botánica, Universidad Austral de Chile, Casilla 567, Valdivia, Chile
2 Corresponding author (malvarez{at}uni-bremen.de)
3 Instituto de Ingeniería Agraria y Suelos, Universidad Austral de Chile, Casilla 567, Valdivia, Chile
4 Universidad de Valparaíso, Instituto de Sistemas Complejos de Valparaíso, Artillería 470, Valparaíso, Chile
5 Universidad Austral de Chile, Instituto de Microbiología, Casilla 567, Valdivia, Chile
6 Universidad de La Frontera, Departamento de Ciencias Químicas, Casilla 54-D, Temuco, Chile


  Abstract

Infection with ectomycorrhizal fungi can increase the ability of plants to resist drought stress through morphophysiological and biochemical mechanisms. However, the metabolism of antioxidative enzyme activities in the ectomycorrhizal symbiosis remains poorly understood. This study investigated biomass production, reactive oxygen metabolism (hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde concentration) and antioxidant enzyme activity (superoxide dismutase, catalase, ascorbate peroxidase and glutathione reductase) in pure cultures of the ectomycorrhizal fungi Descolea antartica Sing. and Pisolithus tinctorius (Pers.) Coker & Couch, and non-mycorrhizal and mycorrhizal roots of Nothofagus dombeyi (Mirb.) roots under well-watered conditions and drought conditions (DC). The studied ectomycorrhizal fungi regulated their antioxidative enzyme metabolism differentially in response to drought, resulting in cellular damage in D. antartica but not in P. tinctorius. Ectomycorrhizal inoculation and water treatment had a significant effect on all parameters studied, including relative water content of the plant. As such, N. dombeyi plants in symbiosis experienced a lower oxidative stress effect than non-mycorrhizal plants under DC. Additionally, ectomycorrhizal N. dombeyi roots showed a greater antioxidant enzyme activity relative to non-mycorrhizal roots, an effect which was further expressed under DC. The association between the non-specific P. tinctorius and N. dombeyi had a more effective reactive oxygen species (ROS) metabolism than the specific D. antartica–N. dombeyi symbiosis. We conclude that the combination of effective ROS prevention and ROS detoxification by ectomycorrhizal plants resulted in reduced cellular damage and increased plant growth relative to non-mycorrhizal plants under drought.

Keywords: ascorbate peroxidase, catalase, glutathione reductase, pristine forest, superoxide dismutase, volcanic soil

Received January 25, 2009; Accepted May 10, 2009


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.